John David Ellis, the creator of the ECCO cards, studied art during the 1950s at the Art Students League in New York City. He continued to live and paint in New York until 1985 when he moved to the state of Maine, first to a tiny fishing village and later to a larger town where he built a studio especially suited for his works, many of which are large. He now divides his time between the United States and Germany’s Black Forest.
David has painted professionally for more than forty years. His paintings are completely abstract and have no easily identifiable subject content.
When Moritz Egetmeyer, the OH Cards publisher, asked David to paint a series of cards on the subject “circus,” he declined, saying that no matter what theme he started with, it was bound to turn out abstract. Instead, David suggested a deck of cards consisting of only abstract subjects, the meanings of which would be supplied by individual viewers. The result was the ECCO cards.
The name ECCO was suggested by Ellis’ life companion, Joan Beauregard (the creator of the BEAUREGARD cards).
